Nikon, Canon flash

Dangermouse

Dangermouse

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Today we were at an event and we were doing the family shots, The photographer taking the all round all day shots was using a Canon.....it went bust after his first shot and just died so being nice as we are offered him our backup camera(Eileens D70) which he took like anyone would, but he started to put his 580ex flash on and I went.......whoa the camera is Nikon your flash is Canon and he just looked at me and said it will work:thinking:

ok then take a flash shot now ......... he did..........b****r me it works :thumbs: how come it works for Nikon cameras and Canon flash but not the other way round:shrug:
 
Why would any flash not work on any camera just as a manual flash! Maybe the extra features are specific to certain camera/flash combinations but if you short the hot pin and ground it flashes - canon, nikon, pentax etc etc...
 
It just worked ..so all hotshoes are the same then.....would a 580 have the functianallity of a sb600/800
 
I THINK the centre pin of the hot shoe is the hot pin and the outer part is ground. To fire the flash you short out these two contacts. If you look at your hot shoe there are several other contacts and the location of these varies from company to company so a SB800 might work on a canon but all its features will not. I MIGHT BE WRONG THOUGH THIS IS JUST A REASONABLE GUESS.
 
Thats interesting really .....we should be able to use any flash system on the market then
 
If my reasoning is correct then any flash SHOULD fire but you will not get any iTTL etc etc etc so it will work like a £20 unbranded manual flash
 
I hope someone who actually knows what they are talking about comes along to rescue me shortly.........
 
cowasaki thanks...I didnt know that will try my mates flash and let you know
 
I would GUESS so but wouldn't want to put money on it.
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
cowasaki thanks...I didnt know that will try my mates flash and let you know
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PLEASE wait till someone who actually knows what they are talking about comes along, I would hate my GUESS to blow up either your camera or his flash.
 
The center pin and the outer work the trigger circuit, the other contacts work the metering and other flash features, these are not compatable (usually) the trigger circuit will fire most flashes in the manual mode, the issues tend to come from different polarity, this can cause problems, some cameras might be more sensitive than others.
Personally I wouldn't recomend trying it, the different other contacts may short something out, and thats going to cost you.
 
Thanks Wayne It was my camera he used my nikon D70 and a canon 580ex and it seemed to work surprising us
 
Like everyone else says it works due to the contacts, you only need two (centre pin and rails). There won't be any communication such as iTTL/eTTL going on though. This can be proven by shorting out the centre pin with the rail on any flash, it will fire! He probably popped the canon flash on the auto mode (it might have a little window where it has a light sensor), the equivalent of Nikons A/AA mode (I think). Hope the D70 is still going strong for you Eileen, I used to tape off the contacts on it apart from centre pin and could sync up to 1/4000 IIRC no problems at full power :D
 
any flash would fire as the big pin (quench signal) is common to all flashes (apart from some oldskool weird ****) the problem is the other 4/5 pins could short out on something and blow the flash, or take a contact to a voltage that shouldn't be there and upset something.

if you put a bit of electrical tape over the flash male shoe with a hole for the quench pin and a gap at the edge so the plates can touch as they are ground (but don't let any of the smaller signal pins touch)
if you have a PT-04 trigger look at its shoe - metal pin, plastic plate, metal tabs on the sides to touch the ground of the camera
 
Cheng said:
Like everyone else says it works due to the contacts, you only need two (centre pin and rails). There won't be any communication such as iTTL/eTTL going on though. This can be proven by shorting out the centre pin with the rail on any flash, it will fire! He probably popped the canon flash on the auto mode (it might have a little window where it has a light sensor), the equivalent of Nikons A/AA mode (I think). Hope the D70 is still going strong for you Eileen, I used to tape off the contacts on it apart from centre pin and could sync up to 1/4000 IIRC no problems at full power :D
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Chen your D70 is a cracking camera and takes great shots.I,m more than over the moon with it. :thumbs:
 
Yv said:
DM, was he another 'official' tog?

Edited to change question having now seen your other posts! ;) Very kind gesture indeed anyway, not everyone would have lent their kit to someone unfamiliar with it.
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Yes Yv he was doing the shots inside whilst I did the family portraits at the planes but he did disapear after a few hrs leaving me and Eileen to cover the whole event which didnt bother us as we just enjoyed making the kids days with on the spot photos and we have been booked for next year allready :thumbs:
 
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